102. TIMOTHY LEARY: Find the others

Timothy Leary (1920-1996) was a psychologist, author and pioneer of psychedelic drugs. While working as a professor at Harvard, he explored the potential benefits of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. His later experiments with LSD made him a key figure and hero during the counter-culture movement of the 1960s.

– I’d never heard of Leary before a reader (thanks Denver) sent me this quote.
– There’s lot of his interviews on YouTube (like this great one) and I also found this BBC documentary on him if you’re interested in finding out more.

With all due respect, the “crackpot” which you are mentioning was famous among scientists, politicians and historians and many other personalities and their lives were too useful for this planet. All i mean to say is you can insult a person for his habits but not the excellence of his own soul and character which spreads positive energy.

Crackpot or visionary? Could “both” be a reasonable answer? Like many people struggling to find a new sense of reality and purpose in their lives during the difficult time of the 50s and 60s, Leary’s thoughts range from extremely insightful and poignant to cliched or “woo-y”. All told I think he had a positive effect on our culture, and helped to normalize abnormality, something we do much better with today (though not perfectly) – consider how the conversation about autism spectrum has changed enormously since the 60s from “his brain is broken” to “there are lots of ways that human brains can work and still be functional.”

Timothy Leary is a genius and a madman, and he is so absolutely right in this quote. Live shamelessly, live dangerously, take the chances, talk to strangers. Live wild and bold and accept the consequences, good and bad. Your life will be so much better for it. I know mine is.

My favorite part of this quote is hidden: while he explicitly says “you’re not like them,” the statement in fact applies to each one of “them” as well. All those people, who look to you like mindless robots, consuming what’s served and following convention, each of them feels like you — like he doesn’t really fit in, like she’s hiding a unique secret self. And you? To them, you look like one of “them,” going about your mindless existence! As he goes on to say: everyone carries a piece of the puzzle.

I think that’s a good part of the message.
Take courage in meeting people. Heck, occasionally speak to someone on the bus. Maybe a topic arises e.g. they’re reading a book you know, maybe they just seem nice, maybe “they” are a nice girl.

In fact one thing I dislike about our information and service society is people don’t have to rely on each other anymore. We grow independent and lonely, instead of realizing human life is a “together” experience, instead of being depent on those we love or complete strangers and growing closer and feeling community.

If somebody needs help or information, that’s the best way to get to know someone. Also, don’t be afraid to need someting yourself, how are you ever gonna meet nice people who love to help strangers if you never need anything.

The best times I’ve had getting to know people when either they or me were travelling, and one of us was completely lost and just need someone else.
This January I was travelling around for a few days, on the first day my cell phone broke. I was dependent on the kindness of strangers, though sometimes disappointing (like a guy who wanted to charge me 2 bucks to make a minute phone call) it was a good experience.
On a different occasion, a guy offered me to stay with his family because I had missed my train connection… was the kindest thing, and it happens more than you would think!

Sometimes I’m startled to learn that folks don’t know about Leary, or any of the other counter-culture heroes. But, then I guess that’s why its called counter-culture. Read about his last days to know about a man who wasn’t afraid of life or death, an explorer to the end.

I think Tim was a convenient scapegoat for a lot of people. Particularly the type of people who false flagged their way into an illegal war and slaughtered innocent civilians. The reason those in authority marginalized and disparaged the man wasn’t just about “turning people on” to psychedelic drugs, it was about encouraging people to question their worldview/cultural conditioning, empowering them to deconstruct false belief systems and think for themselves, and – along the way – promoting some of the most powerful tools possible to do so. Here’s what George Carlin said about his experience with psychedelics:

“I understood how my normal perception of the world was constricted and limited by many prohibitions I had somehow accepted.”

That’s what made him “dangerous.” Was he a bit forward and outspoken? Sure, but he was treading new ground. Sometimes, unrest is the result of a grand idea being born. In the words of James Fadiman, who was an early pioneer in psychedelic research and was in fact working on one such study in the ’60s before research was all together shut down:

“Radical revisions in human thought do not come easily, especially to any institution whose own structure or status might be endangered.”

Speaking of Fadiman and his research, here are some interesting quotes from participants in that (LSD) study – who ranged from mathematicians to architects to scientists:

“I saw (or was) the cosmos and it came together into a pinpoint of all the light and energy there is and burst and flooded the universe with twinkling stars again.
…
I withdrew for a moment and thought about this rare phenomenon. Again laughter tumbled from the depths of my being. I was trying to do the impossible, to stand back and intellectualize about the most integral thought I had ever experienced…Being transcending the sum of its parts….”

“I encountered an amazing presence, and felt a complete sense of the perfection in everything.”

Another insisted:

“I would not have believed what transpired had it not really occurred to me.”

The point, here – and what Fadiman emphasized – is both direct experience and safe, guided, and informed use. In his recent book “Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide”, he put it well in stating:

“To become more aware is your birth right… Whether or not you ever choose to use psychedelic experiences as part of your self-discovery, your decision should be an informed one.”

More and more studies have shown psychedelics to produce incredibly positive effects on an individual’s health – be it in the form of improved personality, a deeply spiritual experience, an aid in therapy, treating mental disorders, curing patients of their addictions to toxic substances, providing comfort in end-of-life care, or for a simple occasion in reverie. Take Roland Griffiths’ work on psilocybin at Johns Hopkins University. They have proven been effective in treating depression, cluster headaches, and anxiety – not to mention an increase in general well-being (the majority of patients rank it as one of the “top 5” experiences of their lives). Ketamine is also showing to be uniquely effective treating depression, the same goes with MDMA for PTSD. Elsewhere, Ibogaine has proven a highly efficacious (as in, full on cure) treatment for heroin and prescription opiates after only one use.

People like Tim, even those taking a more measured approach, are still being marginalized to this day. Just look at Dr. David Nutt in the UK, who was sacked as the chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs after claiming in a paper that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than many illegal drugs (including LSD, ecstasy and cannabis).

I wholly believe that society should allow for safe access to psychedelics and, what’s more, thoroughly trained professionals to help guide one through their experience. Set and setting can go a long way in mitigating most of the negative side effects that might occur during a session.

“The first place you go, when you’re going to take a new drug, is the library.” – Terence McKenna

“The approach to the numinous is the real therapy.” – Carl Jung

“Every slightest effort at opening up new areas of thought, every attempt to perceive new aspects of truth, or just a little truth, is of inestimable value in preparing the way for the light we cannot see.” – James Douglass

I think anything in excess is bad, and I also think the closest I have come to understanding true wisdom and being one with the universe have been during meditation sessions, not drug trips. However, the first time I did acid truly a life-changing experiment. I was just a teenager, like all teens trapped in my own head, like so many holding on to resentments, deeply rooted and petty ones alike, but that night all of that was literally blown away, like candle in a gust of wind. The next day it was still all there, but it was like I suddenly realized how small and meaningless all that bitterness was in the scheme of my life, and began the long process of letting go. I honestly consider it one of the most important early steps on my own endless quest for enlightenment.

Would I do acid again? No. I learned all I needed to know from that particular substance. And meditation takes you even further, without quite as many dangers. But I’m still grateful for that very first time, that first tentative burst into a deeper awareness of the universe. Not to sound too much like a dirty hippie, hahaha.

Oh, I agree. I didn’t mean to imply they be taken frequently or excessively. In fact, it seems to be the case that months (if not years…or, for that case, a lifetime) are generally required to properly contemplate/integrate an experience.

Alan Watts, who had experiences with and without the aid of psychedelic drugs, had this to say:

“Through subsequent experimentation with LSD-25 and the other chemicals named above, I found I could move with ease into the state of ‘cosmic consciousness,’ and in due course became less and less dependent on the chemicals themselves for ‘tuning in’ to this particular wave length of experience.”
(from a pretty good essay, if you’re interested – http://deoxy.org/w_psyrel.htm )

Ultimately, he put it more bluntly:

“When you get the message, hang up the phone.”
(I’m not sure if he was the originator of this quote, or Ram Dass or the religious scholar Huston Smith…but I know he did say it)

Thanks for sharing your experience and expressing it so beautifully. This line in particular – “but that night all of that was literally blown away, like candle in a gust of wind” – reminded me of what is exactly meant by nirvana, which translates literally to “to blow out” (as in a candle). In the Buddhist context, meaning the cessation of waves, turnings, and/or circlings of the mind. I agree entirely that meditation is a wonderful practice and important to integrate into one’s life. Alan Watts actually has a great lecture on it, as well:

Who knows if you’re going to read this since it’s so far out since it’s posted, but I’m honestly happy to see this posted here. I’m in the process of hopefully becoming a trained psychedelic guide, so it warms my heart to randomly stumble upon an “other” as the Timothy Leary quote goes.

The work is being done. There are guides all over now, and some day soon hopefully they will be able to do their work above ground.

Very excellent response to the question about Timothy Leary. Thoughtful, backed up with evidence, and literate. Good job. I have the priviledge of standing in a warehouse where all of Timothy Leary’s research materials and personal items were stored. Going through his files and seeing his diary entries, etc. was pretty mind blowing on it’s own. He was both a genius and a madman. He was human and he had flaws but he was a courageous thinker and he spoke up loud and proud.

Whoa, that’s freaking awesome! Thanks for sharing! There was an article I just read where they said some library was looking for an intern to archive/digitize the Timothy Leary Papers, or something. Not sure if it’s the same materials, but it’s interesting that you bring that up.

Or it’s just a drug with a physiological and psychological effect on the body. There is no insight, it’s just a physical reaction. People take such experiences as though they mean something, but personal experience is flawed and not a good measure of anything.

It’s natural they would liken it to such things and make it seem like magic. But it’s not. It’s a drug with an effect. Any “insight” is just your delusions made up by your mind to make sense of it all. We aren’t “one with the cosmos”, not matter what you feel on a drug. Personal experience is very flawed.

It’s awesome Gavin! I love the psychedelic vibe you injected into it.
I can relate to it SO much, it really moved me. I hope you can make it available as a print. I don’t know much about Leary so I don’t really have an opinion about him but this message is just wonderful.
You rock Gavin!

I don’t have much of a filter, especially when I’m tired or had too much sugar, so it does make me easy to say to complete strangers “Hey, what are you reading?” or “I like (insert random thing now).” For the most part, it’s led to some awesome conversations or people snorting with laughter when they overhear me singing random snippets of songs to my roommate.

I know this is true. Some months ago, I found myself looking and smiling to a complete stranger in the subway (it was the first time I did something like that). I think he felt the same, because he smiled to me too. I couldn’t talk to him, and I repent for it until today.
But I learned that there are other people like me out there. Complete strangers who can make me smile. And now I’m hopeful =)
Regards!

Before I start, I’d like to give you some advice. If you choose to use an internet base layout – they sometimes get very popular, so people learn to handle and beat them. It always helps to adapt them a little bit. http://cocpro.org/

Thanks for the positive feedback and great insights on Leary, someone I didn’t know much about until a week ago. I definitely have no problem with someone who challenges authority, encourages people to try something new and possibly mind-bending. Plus he inspired two Beatles songs (Tomorrow Never Knows and Come Together) and was called ‘the most dangerous man in America’ by Nixon so he’s a good guy in my book.

Wow Gav. I loved how the panels exploded into colour making the quote come to life. I identified with the bit about the dull tedium of conversation we indulge in: the ‘how are you’ and ‘sunny day eh?’ I crib about it but do nothing about it. I’m going to try to do away with that starting today : )

Great work! I love how the transition of (shockingly bright but still awesome) colors went perfectly with this quote. While I don’t know much about the person who said this quote, I agree on how ‘robotic and programmed’ our days become in certain periods of our life.

It made my day , the moment I realized that my quote submission got ZEN PENCILED !!!!
Strangers have always held an inexpiable allure for me despite me being exactly like the shy guy in the comic . I like to think about what anyone I observe has going on in his/her mind and the fascinating way in which the world may be different from their point of view.
Your brilliant artwork gives the already amazing quote an indescribable appeal. Keep up the good work mate , your comics never seize to inspire.

I agree with everything in this quote except for the “nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence”. Why must we subtract from the incredibility of the connections we make by ascribing them to some hidden hand?

In a way, it could be seen not as a claim of a hidden supernatural hand, but of the power of statistics.

When you stand apart from a median, it’s more likely that you’re going to connect to others that stand apart. It’s not a “coincidence” when you encounter a person looking for the same thing you’re looking for – because odds are greater that you’ll notice them, over people who don’t share your interests.

The Internet itself should be a good example of this – the ability to index and search so much information brings together people who would otherwise never have encountered one another. It’s not coincidence, just the effect of statistics and demographics.

I thank you for the great art and insight of thing you find, this one in particular, got me a smile because that the very way I feel, and to give some support to his words, that’s how I found my boyfriend, by just talking to someone out of nowhere, to a person that maybe I will talk to again, and surprise surprise we have been together for 7 years XD, so yeah why the heck no n_n.

I think Leary’s quote here is something that will intrinsically anger many people. Perhaps, what Leary is trying to get across, is something that cannot be stated – no matter how gently – without ticking a lot of people off.

Because it appears to be saying “you’re special, and everyone else is not”. In a way, it might be a moment of extra cynicism from Leary here – essentially fed up with dancing around saying something directly. And the hard truth is that certain truths will always piss people off. Because people don’t like contemplating such questions – whether the answer ends up being true or false.

I’ve always felt what Leary is actually saying here, is that it’s pointless to pretend to be “normal” in relation to the median average around you, because that just leads to isolation. If you don’t fit in, you don’t fit in. Pandering yourself to the dominant convention is a waste of your own time and energy, and it would be more productive to do your own thing and if possible find other people who don’t fit in.

It’s true that many people convince themselves they are “special” to feel better about themselves, or to believe they’re superior to others. This is, in part, what angers the average person when they see a message like Leary’s. Because their own cynicism has convinced them anybody who doesn’t “fit in” is just trying to act “special”. Yet it cannot be denied that some people do not fit in, and never achieve their potential until they give up trying and go do their own thing. It cannot be denied that in any group, a minority stand out because they go do things the majority aren’t interested in or never thought of. Sometimes, those people change society by not going along with the majority.

has annyone been able to track down a source for this quote…? not that i doubt it, just REALLY wish i could back it up to others, and, popular and unchallenged as it, i can’t find a source ANNYWHERE…!P

Please, please, please make this available to buy a print of. I hacked it apart and printed it out on several pages to show friends, but I’d like to give you some money. Thank you so much for making this 🙂

Hey, i think your work is awesome, it has arrived to my browser xD translated to spanish (im from Argentina) i knew some of these quotes but your work make them much more special. No more to say than congratulations and nice (and beautiful) job!

I always hate when some stranger starts talking to me about some boring stuff, because I’m not interested in what he tries to say…it’s always some stupid gibberish… and it’s just not natural to talk with strangers. I only talk to my friends and family, which is enough.

I totally agree.I hate when people try to make some stupid conversation. Hey man, go with peace out of my sight. I have no time nor desire to listen youre bullcrap. I have my things to do and my things on my mind. I dont wanna think about your crap too.

I get it.
Be different- talk to the elevator girl. do the unexpected…
We’ve seen this a million times. Over & over. Do YOU get it yet?
When people talk about the weather they are stepping out- they are beginning a conversation in an easy nonthreatening way. Don’t criticize, take it and reply with some personal info..”yeah like this rain like ruined my move, & I like just left my mom’s basement and got my own like awesome place and like my cats are all like…”
THE TRUTH, this article is doing exactly what its telling you NOT to do- be the same lame ass as always by cartooning the same lame advice you get on a hundred other sites. Do Better than this Psych-Self Help 101 BS.
jeeeezzz

It’s great that the poster of this “quote imagining” has done some research on Tim Leary, but I am disturbed that he didn’t know who Leary was before then. True, his biggest influence was “turning on” America, but his scope reached further than that…The world needed to know about what people were trying to accomplish with the counter-culture movement.

This is so fantastic. Its’ like me in there, my mind talking and you just made a cartoon strip out of it. This is really amazing Gav. Thankyou!!, for inspiration is hard to come by when you’re me. sigh!

That Leary sense of exploration lives on. See “Bringing science back to hallucinogens,” Johns Hopkins Magazine, Spring 2011. This is about researchers studying the use of psilocybin or ‘Magic Mushrooms’ to help the terminally ill deal with pain. The lead researcher’s name is Johnson so of course I’d call him…Magic Mushroom Johnson.

Heya i’m for the first time below. I stumbled onto this plank so i to uncover It truly valuable & the item solved the problem outside a great deal. I really hope to present anything yet again as well as assist other folks such as you helped me to.

You have no idea how much I identify with this. I tend to really struggle with small talk. I always really want to ask people things like, “what do you love right now?”, “what currently drives you?”, “what’s your big fear?” I always get frustrated when everybody wants to just hide behind “how are you?” and “how about that weather?” It’s nice to know others feel that way too.

Everyone of us is different, but together we are one. Our brains are a collective conscious. In a world where we are bombarded by information at every turn, it’s no wonder why we feel divided. Conflicted by the illusion of choice. I believe that there is a center where we can all meet, if only we searched inwardly rather than outwardly. Look for the similarities and bar the differences, no matter how great they may seem in order to find my place inside the bubble. 🙂

Hey what a brilliant post I have come across and believe me I have been searching out for this similar kind of post for past a week and hardly came across this. Thank you very much and will look for more postings from you.

Hey, i think your work is awesome, it has arrived to my browser xD translated to spanish (im from Argentina) i knew some of these quotes but your work make them much more special. No more to say than congratulations and nice (and beautiful) job!

I consider you. This post is really ennobling. i favor your post and everything you share with North American country is current and extremely informative, i need to marker the page therefore I will come back here from you that you just have done an incredible job.

Great goods from you, man. I’ve have in mind your stuff previous to and you’re just too excellent. I actually like what you’ve received right here, really like what you’re saying and the best way by which you are saying it. You are making it entertaining and you continue to care for to keep it sensible. I can’t wait to read much more from you. This is really a great site.

Pretty nice post. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that I’ve truly enjoyed browsing your weblog posts. After all I will be subscribing to your feed and I am hoping you write once more very soon!

just stumbled upon this blog…I lived with Tim Leary and the clan back when he was in mill brook at the old hitchcock mansion in new york . I was a kid and our family all lived there….. It was interesting but of course none of us kids knew what was going on… I certainly had fun tho

his is my first time i visit here. I found so many entertaining stuff in your blog, especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the leisure here! Keep up the excellent work.fuel wheels

Any go on web page relating to making feedback was first particularly unique. Document look at a fabulous most recently that’s why may appear to be this person competent using you will. Just about every single end you will referred to he’d put into use that’s why performed just for the dog while it was first amazing fin analyze.

That can purpose short-term, on the other hand it’s really not a functional long-term reply intended for adult men who wish to always be using this type of 1 exclusive female they will can’t stop taking into consideration.

Easily, the article is actually the best topic on this registry related issue. I fit in with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your next updates. Just saying thanks will not just be sufficient, for the fantasti c lucidity in your writing. I will instantly grab your rss feed to stay informed of any updates.avid1 wheel

That will operate short-term, nevertheless it’s not only a workable long-term option pertaining to folks who want to always be achievable one particular particular young lady that they can’t end thinking of. hardwood san jose

Foster Tech is an Online Advertising Company. We Provide SEO and website Designing & Developing. To Improve your website ranking on Google, we Put your Website Link on our Blog Network and many more things to get your Website more traffic and to get your Brand more Customers. If you don’t have a Website then we will make you a Website for your brand or Company.

Royal Residencia is a royal housing society which gives your life a royalistic way. plots are for sale on defence road and you can buy homes and plots at easy installment from here. This society is LDA approved with it’s own royal security force. the good thing is that it’s located at the prime location of Lahore on new defence road in Model Town and it’s near ring road. So, be the part of this living plan of modern living standard.

Foster Tech is Provide SEO and website Designing & Developing. To Improve your website ranking on Google, we Put your Website Link on our Blog Network and many more things to get your Website more traffic and to get your Brand more Customers. If you don’t have a Website then we will make you a Website for your brand or Company.

Provide each and every opportunity for your web guests to share relevant contact information with you, additionally, it is vital to include any and all opt-in forms on all main pages of your website.london escorts

Some ppl find it difficult to live within the parameters set in place….they are the inventors, those who challenge….sometimes even the most basic of norms. Timothy Leary was one of those ppl….are we better off because of his experiments?….some would say yes….others no. I do know that his life and family lived in emotional turmoil as he had three failed marriages and his daughter committed suicide at the age of 42 and he was very much a loner himself….so writing about ppl living robotic lives because they are programmed should not be surprised by his life, or his thoughts. Timothy Leary, the Harvard psychologist whose advocacy of mind-altering drugs and defiance of the status quo made him an icon of the psychedelic 1960s and, in President Richard Nixon’s words, “the most dangerous man in America,” died early Friday at his Beverly Hills home.

He was 75 and had disclosed last year that he had inoperable prostate cancer.

Leary had wanted to meet death on his own terms, declaring that he planned to commit suicide and have it broadcast worldwide on the Internet. But the illness overtook him in his last weeks, and he was unable to carry out what would have been his final act of defiance. He did, however, request that his ashes be shot into space.

His last coherent words came about six hours before he died.

“Why?” Leary suddenly blurted out. There was a long, silent pause, and then he said, much more softly, “Why not?”

Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there. ~Amy Li

A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. ~Marion C. Garretty

Is solace anywhere more comforting than in the arms of a sister. ~Alice Walker

The loveliest thing I know is….
My sister.
~Lord Byron, “Cain”

Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life. ~Charles M. Schulz

If you don’t understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child. ~Linda Sunshine

You can kid the world. But not your sister. ~Charlotte Gray

I would like more sisters, that the taking out of one, might not leave such stillness. ~Emily Dickinson

Help one another, is part of the religion of sisterhood. ~Louisa May Alcott

Sisters never quite forgive each other for what happened when they were five. ~Pam Brown

In thee my soul shall own combined the sister and the friend. ~Catherine Killigrew

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet. ~Vietnamese Proverb

A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves — a special kind of double. ~Toni Morrison

Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply… ~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814

What’s the good of news if you haven’t a sister to share it? ~Jenny DeVries

Sisters is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship. ~Margaret Mead

Bless you, my darling, and remember you are always in the heart — oh tucked so close there is no chance of escape — of your sister. ~Katherine Mansfield

A sister smiles when one tells one’s stories — for she knows where the decoration has been added. ~Chris Montaigne

More than Santa Claus, your sister knows when you’ve been bad and good. ~Linda Sunshine

If sisters were free to express how they really feel, parents would hear this: “Give me all the attention and all the toys and send Rebecca to live with Grandma.” ~Linda Sunshine

My sister taught me everything I really need to know, and she was only in sixth grade at the time. ~Linda Sunshine

I, who have no sisters or brothers, look with some degree of innocent envy on those who may be said to be born to friends. ~James Boswell

How do people make it through life without a sister? ~Sara Corpening

If your sister is in a tearing hurry to go out and cannot catch your eye, she’s wearing your best sweater. ~Pam Brown

Sisters are different flowers from the same garden. ~Author Unknown

There can be no situation in life in which the conversation of my dear sister will not administer some comfort to me.

i liked this story presentation for You aren’t like them from timothy leary, i think the message of the quote has conveyed that their is difference between brilliancy and insanity, thank you for sharing.

Royal Residencia is a royal housing society which gives your life a royalistic way. plots are for sale on defence road and you can buy homes and plots at easy installment from here. This society is LDA approved with it’s own royal security force. the good thing is that it’s located at the prime location of Lahore on new defence road in Model Town and it’s near ring road. So, be the part of this living plan of modern living standard.

Technology is an inherent democratizer. Because of the evolution of hardware and software, you’re able to scale up almost anything. It means that in our lifetime everyone may have tools of equal power.